


What do I call you, then?

by ArielAquarial



Series: Family of Three [15]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe, Castiel is Claire Novak's Parent, Claire always gets her way, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, Family Fluff, Feels, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-22
Updated: 2019-06-22
Packaged: 2020-05-16 15:49:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19321276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArielAquarial/pseuds/ArielAquarial
Summary: Claire was a determined girl. Did she want something? She usually got it through annoying everyone around her until they gave in. She find a new skill she wanted to learn? She'd practice it over and over until she was satisfied. It was that same single-minded determination that led to Claire being in tears while Dean cradled her on his lap. Cas hovered behind, unsure of what to do with the situation. Dean was equally unsure.





	What do I call you, then?

**Author's Note:**

> One of these days I'll learn how to tag properly. Today is not that day.
> 
> Special thanks to my beta: Grammarly. I wouldn't have survived my research class without it. Another special thanks to my state college for letting me have it for free.

Claire, just like any child, had her quirks.

 

Sometimes she just started shrieking. Completely out of nowhere. One second, she’d be eating, or playing with her toys, and then she’d suddenly turn into a banshee. Usually, Cas was able to stop her with a look, the patented ‘dad is disappointed in you’ look, but sometimes it would take a firmly shouted “Claire!”. The whole situation usually resulted in tears.

 

Claire would go through periods where she would get really fixated on a certain movie. It wouldn’t happen with every movie. Rapunzel, for example, was enjoyable but didn’t warrant daily watches. Even Frozen hadn’t been watched every day. Ferdinand, on the other hand? She wanted to watch that damn movie every day. When that first watch through was done? She’d want to watch it again.

 

When she cried, which was a lot for someone so happy all of the time, she liked to walk into the bathroom and watch herself sob in the mirror. The act would often spur her on longer than she would normally cry, and one of them would have to go in there and pull her away from the mirror.

 

Claire had a habit of coming up to you and putting her forehead against yours to have a whispered conversation. It was largely Dean's fault. Whenever Dean wanted to have her do something- wash her hands, clean her room, brush her teeth, etc.- he squished her cheeks together so her lips puckered out and pulled her face close enough to his that you'd have to go cross-eyed in order to focus. Cas thought it was amusing...until she started doing it to him.

 

And last, once she got her mind on something, there was no going back. She decided she wanted popcorn for breakfast? She’d ask until you had to yell at her in order for her to stop, not accepting a simple no for an answer. Clare didn’t want to go the school? The teacher would have to pry her off of you. Didn't want to wear what you picked out? She’d complain until you gave up and let her wear what she wanted. That single-minded determination was a godsend when it came to things like swimming, learning a new song to sing on repeat, and playing games.

 

She was great. Dean and Cas loved her. But...

 

It was that same single-minded determination that led to Claire being in tears while Dean cradled her on his lap. Cas hovered behind, unsure of what to do with the situation. Dean was equally unsure.

 

“I’m sorry, baby.” He shushed and rocked her. “We didn’t mean to make you upset.”

 

She doubled down on her crying and buried her face in his neck. Cas patted her hair awkwardly and murmured a few words of sympathy.

 

“There’s no need to cry, ok?” He glanced up at Cas, but the other man just shrugged and appeared to be just as alarmed. “You’re not in trouble. We’re not mad, ok?”

 

“But you said no!” she pointed an accusing finger at Cas, and the man held up his hands in defense.

 

“I know, Claire. I didn’t say no because I was mad at you. I promise.” Cas sat on the couch and rested his thigh against Deans in solidarity.

 

“Buy I want Dean to be daddy!”

 

He was quick to jump in and smooth over the hurt look that was showing on Cas's face. “And I want to be your daddy too, Claire-bear, but you already call your daddy that, so we want you to call me something else.”

 

She sniffed, and a fresh wave of tears came. “But I like daddy.”

 

“And I love it too.” He gave Cas a pointed look that clearly said, ‘Any time now!’

 

Cas seemed to snap out of it and take the hint. “Dean loves you, Claire. You know that. Of course he wants to be your daddy, but I’m already daddy, so we need to think of something else to call him, ok?”

 

“But I want daddy!” she insisted.

 

“Don’t you think that will get confusing? What if you call for daddy and I come, but you really wanted Dean?” he pointed out, using his best reasoning tone. “What about papa? That’s a good one.”

 

Dean winced. Papa would be a good one if it wasn’t what he used to call his grandfather. “Maybe something else? Pop?”

 

Now it was Cas’s turn to wince. “I don’t know about that one…”

 

“I want daddy!” she repeated again, not wanting to be left out.

 

This was completely new territory for both men. Cas had never really made it to this point in his relationships with other men, so he’s never had to troubleshoot that particular problem. Before he and Michael separated, Cas assumed it would have been Daddy and Papa, or perhaps just dad, but that had never panned out and Michael had been gone before she was even old enough to utter her first symbol. Dean, on the other hand, had only dated one woman with a child, but Ben had been too cool to call him anything other than Dean.

 

This whole situation had come out of nowhere. One minute they were cleaning up from dinner, and the next, Claire was asking for daddy to get her a cup of water. When Cas moved to comply, she had said: “No, I meant da other daddy.” It had taken them both a few moments to realize that _Dean_ was the other daddy.

 

 

 

“Let’s calm down, ok?” Dean brushed the hair out of her damp face. “We’ll figure something out.”

 

Cas went to the kitchen to grab Claire a snack in the hopes of distracting her. It worked for a few minutes, and she let Dean place her on the couch next to him as she sucked down a tube of apple sauce. He got to his feet and snuck over to Cas.

 

“Do you want her to call me daddy?” he whispered to the man. They had both been blindsided by the whole fit hadn’t had the opportunity to actually discuss it.

 

Cas shook his head. “I love you Dean, but she’s been calling me daddy for 5 years. Dada was her first word. We’ll have to figure something else out for you. Please don't be offended.”

 

"I'm not!" He reassured Cas quickly. "Hell, I'm just happy she sees me like that. I'm over the goddamn moon."

 

Cas seemed to be relieved. "I just wish she wasn't being so stubborn about this."

 

Dean ran his hand over his face and sighed, silently agreeing with Cas. “We’ll distract her, and then talk about it later?”

 

He nodded and turned to leave. “Yes. I’ll get the face masks.”

 

With a glare at his escaping boyfriend, he rubbed his hands together and put on a fake smile. “Ready to pick something on Netflix? Daddy is getting the facemasks!”

 

“You daddy, or daddy-daddy?” she asked.

 

“Oh god…” he mumbled. Cas would kill him if she started calling him daddy-daddy. Screw teamwork, he’d leave it to Cas. “Hey! Want to watch Nailed It?”

 

She squinted at him. “Can we watch da unicorn cake one?”

 

“Of course! I’m just gonna go and wash my face. I’ll be right back.” He scampered off, happy that his diversion tactic worked.

 

He passed Cas on the way to the bathroom and gave him a mumbled good luck, before went into the bathroom and started his cleansing routine. Despite the years of making fun of Sammy about his haircare ‘rituals’- the weekly hair masks, the shelf of special shampoos and conditioners in the shower, the hair oils, the leave-in conditioners- he finally understood the need for self-care. It wasn't even that his skin needed it, not really, it was the routine that he enjoyed. It was taking 15 minutes each night to _himself_. The regimen had started out simple enough, but it had quickly expanded to include a vitamin C serum, an AHA, a few different moisturizers and cleansers based on the season, and a pack of hydrocolloid patches for the rare pimple. Dean knew that if Sam ever found out that he had a skincare routine, he’d never hear the end of it. Cas was the only one who knew, other than Claire, so he’d know who spilled the beans right away.

 

Once he was fresh and clean, he made his way back to the front room and started digging through the box of masks that Cas had placed on the coffee table. With his favorite collagen sheet mask in hand, they spent a few minutes helping Claire get hers on before tending to themselves and pressing play.

 

Sheet masks made it hard for a person to talk, especially when they were five, so they were safe from Claire’s comments for half the episode. Once the twenty minutes were up, they tossed the masks and rubbed the rest of the serum into their skin. Despite the episode not being over, they paused it and promised her she could watch the rest later. Distracted by the annoyance of not finishing the episode, she completely forgot the whole daddy issue.

 

Dean headed off to get her pajamas and diaper ready, while Cas assisted her in the restroom. When they finished the bedtime routine, they sang her night-night song, gave her hugs and kisses, and then regrouped in the kitchen.

 

Dean let out a sigh and plopped onto the wooden stool, staring at Cas from across the island as he grabbed mugs from the cabinet. He watched, head propped up lazily by his fist, as Cas began brewing them a pot of decaf coffee. By the time the coffee had finished brewing, and Cas had poured them both a hot cup, he had collected himself. “This was an interesting night.”

 

Dean snorted. “At least she didn’t throw a tantrum about bedtime.”

 

"That would have made an already frustrating night even worse."

 

He nodded in agreement. “That would have been some icing on the damn cake.”

 

Cas was drumming his fingers on the hot mug. “What do you think?”

 

“I think this is some good coffee…” he hedged.

 

Cas frowned at him. “Dean.”

 

Dean sighed in defeat. “Well…I’m not sure. I love that she wants to call me daddy. I do. I love the damn kid, attitude and all. But I know you don’t want her to call me daddy, and I get it. _You’re_ daddy. You raised her on your own, so you deserve that.”

 

“Thank you, Dean.”

 

“I just don’t want to be called papa, or pop, or anything like that. That’s what you’d call your grandpa. What's left? Father? That's even worse. 'Come here, father.' It sounds like something a rich kid would say.”

 

“It's unfortunate that there aren’t many alternatives…” he pulled out his phone. “Perhaps I can google it.”

 

Dean smiled affectionately at Cas. “You do that, Cas.”

 

After a second, Cas glanced up to Deans smiling face. “Google is a useful tool.”

 

"You're right." he replied, the smile still firmly in place.

 

"Dean." Cas growled. "Are you giving me a hard time right now?"

 

Dean shrugged a shoulder. “I would never.”

 

Cas narrowed his eyes into a squint and went back to his phone, ignoring Deans behavior. “Ah. Here we are. How do you feel about…” he trailed off and Dean watched as he scrolled quickly. “These are all horrible.”

 

He watched Cas put his phone down in frustration. “Nothing?”

 

“Not unless you want her to call you Sensei, or something nonsensical like that.”

 

Dean laughed out loud at that. “I don’t know, sensei has a nice ring to it.”

 

“She’ll call you Dean for the rest of her life before I let her call you sensei.”

 

Deans chest warmed at the idea of him being around her for the rest of her life. “Well, I think it’s a good idea to drop it. Maybe she’ll forget.”

 

Cas raised his eyes at Dean. “She never forgets.”

 

Dean chuckled. “You’re raising a little elephant, Cas.”

 

He nodded. “I know. It will probably be the first thing she brings up in the morning, other than asking where her breakfast is, of course.”

 

"All in favor of leaving it until the morning, then?" Dean asks.

 

"Aye." Cas drained the last of his coffee and they both went to the couch for their pre-bed tv watching and snuggling.

 

o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o.O.o

 

Sure enough, it started after they sat down for breakfast.

 

"Can we go to da park, daddy?"

 

Cas peeked over the top of his newspaper. "You'll have to ask Dean. I'll be in my office grading for most of the morning."

 

She rolled her eyes. "I _was_ asking Dean.”

 

Both men stopped and looked at each other. Dean tried to break the awkward atmosphere. “I can’t take you to the park until after work, sweetie.”

 

“Tank you, daddy.” She replied and went back to shoveling oatmeal into her mouth like she didn’t just throw a wrench into breakfast.

 

Dean glanced at Cas in time to see him pop on his serious face. “Claire, don’t you remember what we talked about last night?”

 

She shook her head stubbornly, and by the pinched expression, Dean could tell that she _did_ remember. “No.”

 

“Claire…” Cas warned. “We discussed this. I’m daddy, and Dean needs to be something else.”

 

She folded her arms stubbornly and glared at her dad. “I want to call Dean daddy.”

 

“Hey, quit it with the attitude.” Dean scolded, and her lip immediately began to wobble. He immediately felt like a monster. “Ok, hey…come here.”

 

She abandoned her mostly empty bowl of oatmeal and crawled into his lap, her eyes already watering. “Sorry.”

 

“Shhh. Don’t worry, ok? I love that you want to call me daddy.” He pressed a kiss onto her chubby cheek. “I love you like my own, ok? You’re my favorite little girl. But I want to have a special name, all to myself.”

 

She sniffed wetly and wiped her nose on his flannel shirt. “But I love you like daddy, so I want you to be daddy.”

 

“I know.” He ran a hand through her tangled hair. Now _he_ was close to crying. How did he get so lucky? “Can we try and think of something, though? Something special for me?”

 

She sniffed again and pressed her face into his neck. “Ok.”

 

“What do you think? Could I be a…” he paused to think, unable to come up with anything. “Maybe just dad? Like daddy, but shorter?”

 

She shook her head and chose not to comment on it.

 

“Ok, how about a nickname, huh?”

 

She looked at him curiously. “Nickname?”

 

“Yeah, like how I call your daddy Cas, but his name is Castiel. That’s a nickname.”

 

“Do you have a nickname?”

 

He chuckled. “Haven’t had one since college, sweetie. Why don’t we think of one together?”

 

Her eyes suddenly got large. “Is Claire-bear a nickname?”

 

He nodded. “Yep. You have a nickname of your own.”

 

“Dean-bear?”

 

Cas snorted from his position by the sink, but Dean chose to ignore him. “Well, that doesn’t rhyme. Maybe something else?”

 

“Dean-kitty?”

 

“That doesn’t rhyme either.”

 

“Dean-doggy!”

 

Dean sighed, but amusement was winning against annoyance. “Closer, but still doesn’t rhyme.”

 

“Dean-poopoo!” She shrieked in laughter at her own joke.

 

“That has a nice ring to it.” Cas commented before covering his smile with his coffee cup.

 

Dean glared at him. “Don’t you dare.”

 

“Dean-peepee!” She yelled.

 

He groaned. “Let's not use the yucky words when talking about other people, ok?”

 

“Dean doo-doo head!”

 

His face was beginning to slip into a smile. “That one’s just rude. I’m not a doo-doo head.”

 

“Doodoo head!”

 

He poked her softly in her tummy. “You’re the doo-doo head.”

 

She shrieked in laughter. “No, you’re the doo-doo head.”

 

“Cas, baby, you’re gonna have to help us out here.” He pleaded with the man. “Who is the doo-doo head?”

 

“Hmmm.” He came over and began stroking her hair. “I think Dean is the doo-doo head. What do you think, Claire?”

 

She squeaked in delight. “Deans the doo-doo head!”

 

He put his hand over his heart and gasped. “I’m not a doo-doo head! Daddy is a doo-doo head, ok? Let's gang up on him.”

 

She smiled widely and squirmed to be put down. She immediately began tugging at Cas's button down and hopping excitedly. “Daddy is a doo-doo head! Daddy is a doo-doo head!”

 

Dean winked at Cas. “Looks like you’re the doo-doo head.”

 

Cas made an exaggerated grab for her, and Claire ran off to her bedroom, chanting the entire way. With an eye roll, he jogged after her, loudly warning that he would ‘get her’. They rounded the hallway and popped back into the living room, Cas trailing a few feet behind Claire.

 

“Doo-doo head! Doo-doo head!”

 

Cas made another grab for her as she ran around the coffee table. Her shriek of joy bordered on too loud, but Dean still smiled at their antics. She ran for the kitchen and led her dad around the island before coming back and jumping onto Deans lap. “Help me!”

 

Dean chuckled and cradled her against his chest. “I’ll protect you from the doo-doo head.”

 

Cas grabbed a loose foot and lightly scratched the bottom, tickling her wiggling toes.

 

“Daddy no!” she yelled, but Cas only dropped her foot and went for the other.

 

“Did you hear something?” Cas asked, raising his voice so he could be heard over her screaming.

 

“Nope!” Dean replied, holding her tighter so she didn’t get him in the chin with her sharp elbows.

 

She giggled and squirmed some more, kicking and pulling, and doing everything in her power to get her feet out of Cas’s grasp. “Daddy!”

 

"Still don't hear anything!" Dean yelled over her giggling.

 

Cas abandoned her feet and started in on her ribs.

 

"Daddy Dean! Daddy Dean!" she yelled. "Save me!"

 

Dean let her pull an arm out so she could try to block her daddy. She was only able to bat his hand away once before Cas went in again with his fingers.

 

“Daddy Dee!”

 

Once more, Cas switched to tickling her back.

 

"Ok, ok, ok!" she chanted, and Dean could tell she was finally done with being tickled. "Daddy Dee!"

 

"Oh!" He said. "Did you hear that, daddy? She wants you to stop!"

 

Cas stopped immediately. "Well, why didn't she say anything?"

 

"Daddy!" she grouched and cuddled into Deans open arms. He smiled at Cas, who looked at the two of them with eyes full of love. “I said something _lotsa_ times!”

 

"Don’t worry. I’ll make sure he leaves you alone." he gave her a kiss on her forehead, but she was already done with them both. She ran off in a huff and disappeared into the hallway.

 

Cas sat down next to him as soon as she left, an odd expression on his face. "Did she call you Daddy Dee?"

 

Dean looked at him. "I wasn't really paying attention."

 

"Hmm..." Cas licked his lips absentmindedly. "I actually don't mind that."

 

Deans eyebrows almost met his hairline. "I thought you didn't want her to call me daddy."

 

He grimaced. "I don't, but it's kind of different, don't you think? There's a clear distinction, I suppose. I'm daddy, but maybe you could be daddy Dee? It's hard to explain, but it feels separate. How do you feel about it?"

 

Dean felt pretty damn good about it, but still, he hesitated. "It's more important how you two feel…”

 

Cas leaned back, and let his head fall onto the back of the couch. “I’m feeling a bit selfish right now. On one hand, I want her to call you daddy Dee, or Daddy Dean, or…” he let out a slow breath.

 

“But?”

 

Cas’s blue eyes met his. “I never thought I’d have someone in my life the way you are. I thought that at best, I’d find someone to date for a few months. I never imagined finding _you_.”

 

“Well, shit.” he whispered, unable to get much volume out of his closed up throat. If Cas kept up with it, he’d be tearing up in no time. “Cas…”

 

“You’ve been amazing. Both with my insecurities and with taking care of Claire. I never thought I would be willing to bring someone into our lives, but then you came along. I’m terrified that one day I’ll wake up and you’ll be gone. It would be devastating for us, but for her especially. Her wanting to call you daddy proves it.”

 

Immediately, Dean was next to Cas, two slightly clammy hands trapped between his. “I’m not leaving you two, ok? You’re stuck with me.”

 

Cas looked down at his lap. “Really?”

 

“Yeah. I don’t know if you realized this or not, but you’re kinda it for me.”

 

That seemed to get a response from the man. His eyes shot back up to Deans in surprise. “What do you mean?”

 

Dean looked away shyly. “You know what I mean.”

 

Cas nodded slowly. “I’m feeling much the same way. This is good. Very good.”

 

“Good.” He repeated awkwardly, his bravado draining quickly in the face of such a serious conversation.  “Awesome.”

 

Cas’s lips tilted up in a smile. “You are very good at this.”

 

Dean shook his hands free of Cas’s and frowned. “I’m leaving. I don’t want to be late for work.”

 

Cas stood up along with Dean, clearly still fighting a smile. “I’m sorry. I couldn’t help myself. Come here, I want to kiss you before you leave.”

 

Dean opened his mouth to give Cas a hard time, but Cas covered his mouth with plush lips. He let out a defeated groan and kissed back chastely, still too annoyed to give the man any tongue. He pulled back and frowned at the man. “That’s not fair.”

 

“What? I can’t kiss you?” he asked innocently.

 

“You can’t just kiss me when you want to shut me up, that’s-” Cas kissed him again, this time sneaking his tongue into Dean’s mouth mid-word. Dean let out another groan, this one of pleasure. They stayed like that, making out like teenagers until footsteps could be heard heading their way.

 

Claire marched into the living room with an armful of legos and a determined smile. “You gotsa play wif me, daddy.”

 

Cas turned to Claire with a smile. “Me, or Daddy Dee? Because Daddy Dee is going to work right now.”

 

Claire frowned for a moment in confusion but finally seemed to realize what was going on. "Daddy Dee! Daddy Dee!"

 

Dean chuckled. “I guess she approves. I knew the kid would get her way in the end.”

 

Cas shook his head fondly and watched as she started making a mess of his coffee table. “She usually does.”

**Author's Note:**

> I feel incapable of writing anything other than fluff and feels right now. I hope you guys don't mind. I went through a very stressful semester where I failed a class and it's left me needing a lot of happiness. I wanted to finish the prequel to Non-negotiable, but I'm stuck with it half done and no motivation to write an angsty homeless Cas. I just want my boys to be happy.
> 
> Next installment to the Fo3 verse will be titled: Perfectly Practical. It's about as fluffy as this one, but with a smidge of smut. Keep tuned!
> 
> As always, comments keep my fire burning.


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